The Spectator The independent student newspaper of Valdosta State University
By Kenzie Kesselring
On Saturday, August 9th, Michael Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson around noon.
Johnson told CNN that he and Brown were walking in the street when Officer Wilson allegedly told the men to get out of the street using some harsh language. The men said they were almost at their destination, but Officer Wilson drove off and then put his car in reverse nearly hitting the men.
Johnson also claims that Wilson then got out of the car and grabbed Brown by the front of the neck. Brown resisted and Officer Wilson pulled out a gun and shot Brown. Brown and Johnson started running and Brown was shot in the back. Brown then turned around with his hands in the air and was shot again until he fell to the ground.
According to witness Tiffany Mitchell, Brown was resisting the officer’s grasp and the officer then pulled a gun on him. Mitchell also saw Brown with his hands raised.
Officer Wilson and the Ferguson police force have a very different side to the story. Wilson claims to have been trying to exit his car when Brown shoved him back inside and beat him badly in the face while reaching for Wilson’s gun. According to Wilson, Brown tried to run away and was shot 35 feet away from the police car. This account of the incident was the only information given by Wilson.
Wilson was taken to the hospital with facial injuries. Fox News said the facial injuries were “severe.” However, Thomas Jackson, Ferguson Police Chief, did not see Wilson’s injuries. This is questionable because he would have been working closely with Wilson from the time of the shooting on Saturday afternoon.
The discrepancies in the two stories are so vast that it is nearly impossible to know exactly what happened. Ferguson’s police force does not have cameras installed in police cars, which is very uncommon, so there is no footage of the incident.
The lack of physical evidence is hindering the Ferguson Police Department’s investigation of the case. To prevent this from happening again, police cars should be required to have cameras installed to record valuable information for future incidents.
Without cameras to record police officers and hold them accountable for their actions, it is possible many officers are getting away with being unfair and unnecessarily brutal to citizens. Monetary investments need to be made to correct this issue.
Officer Wilson is a 6-year veteran of the Ferguson police force and has a clean record prior to this incident.
Brown’s family and friends told CNN that he was a kind and gentle person who wouldn’t hurt anyone. However, footage of Brown assaulting a gas station clerk after stealing cigars has been released, prompting outsiders to call Brown a thug.
Regardless of Brown’s past, which Wilson would have been unaware of at the time of the shooting, it is never just for a police officer to open fire on an unarmed citizen. This is something every citizen knows, so you would think it would be common sense to a 6-year police veteran.
It is also common knowledge that when someone’s arms are raised in the air, it is a sign of surrender. For Wilson to keep shooting like he did is unacceptable and is cause for imprisonment. From this critical piece of the story, it is clear that Wilson was shooting with intent to kill Brown.
Without knowing anything else about the case, it is unjust to shoot an unarmed teenager in broad daylight. Officer Wilson should be charged with a crime and not receive pay during his time of absence from work.
The author of this editorial is sorely mistaken on a key issue. While the incident in question took place in Missouri, I will reference Georgia law as we are in GA. The code section in GA that deals with the use of deadly force is 16-3-21 O.C.G.A. It says that a person, and peace officers are people, may use deadly force to prevent death or great bodily injury to himself/herself or a third party or to commit the commission of a forcible felony.
A person getting beaten to the point that they suffer a fracture to the eye socket certainly qualifies as great bodily injury.
Another code section, 17-4-20 O.C.G.A., authorizes officers to use deadly force when the officer reasonably believes that a suspect poses an immediate threat of physical violence to the officer or others or when there is probable cause to believe that a suspect has committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious physical harm.
An officer who has just had a suspect attempt to wrestle said officer’s firearm out of it’s holster and who has caused a fracture to the officer’s eye socket, and then said suspect charged at the officer, the officer would most certainly be justified in using deadly force to stop the suspect.
I’m not stating as fact that the above scenarios are actually what happened in Ferguson as I don’t know what actually happened there, but if the incident took place as it is being purported to have happened by those associated with the police, then Officer Wilson was certainly justified in using deadly force.
Setting the Ferguson incident aside, there are numerous scenarios in which an officer would be using deadly force against an “unarmed” suspect. One such instance would be using deadly force to stop a forcible rape. Another example would be to stop someone from beating a person to death. There are numerous other scenarios where the use of deadly force would apply.
J. Lee Weems, VSU Class of 1998
Chief Deputy of the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office
FBI Certified Firearms Instructor
GA POST Certified General & Firearms Instructor
This is super bias! If you are reporting, then it should be done with facts or other information about the case. I understand this is a newspaper at the college level, but have the dignity to be open minded
Hey Rachel!
Just wanted to let you know this is an opinion piece. It is written by a staff writer and is their opinion. It is not reporting on the issue. We do our best to report actual news with an objective view.
Thank you both for the comments. We love to hear from our readers, whether it be good or bad!
Jordan Hill
Opinions Editor
The Spectator